Luellen v. City of East Chicago, 02-3188.
| Decision Date | 18 November 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 02-3188.,02-3188. |
| Citation | 350 F.3d 604 |
| Parties | John LUELLEN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF EAST CHICAGO, Robert A. Pastrick, in his official capacity as Mayor of the City of East Chicago, Frank Alcala, individually and in his official capacity as East Chicago Police Chief, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Ivan E. Bodensteiner (Argued), Valparaiso, IN, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
Anthony DeBonis, Jr. (Argued), Smith & DeBonis, Highland, IN, for Defendants-Appellees.
Before FLAUM, Chief Judge, and RIPPLE and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.
John Luellen brought this action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and Indiana state law for alleged constitutional violations and other torts as a result of the search of his vehicle and of being placed on administrative leave without a hearing. The defendants moved for summary judgment on all of Mr. Luellen's claims, and the district court granted the defendants' motion. Mr. Luellen appealed. We now affirm the judgment of the district court.
John Luellen was Chief Inspector for the East Chicago Fire Department ("ECFD") in April 1999; Mr. Luellen also was a supporter of Stephen Stiglich, a mayoral candidate who was challenging incumbent Robert Pastrick in the May 1999 East Chicago Democratic primary.
On April 18, 1999, Mr. Luellen picked up his girlfriend, Yvette Millender, who was attending a house party for local political candidates at the home of Lilly Branford-Brown. When Mr. Luellen arrived, there were only about five people left at the party. He stayed there for about fifteen minutes.
That evening, a confidential informant ("CI") called the East Chicago Police Department ("ECPD") and informed Lieutenant Ricardo Chavarria that Mr. Luellen "was at a house party and he was getting people's absentee ballots." Chavarria Dep. (8/14/01) at 22. The CI named and described Mr. Luellen, his city-owned vehicle and the bag in which the ballots were placed. See id. at 38 & Ex.1. Lt. Chavarria had known the CI for several years and considered the CI to be reliable.
Lt. Chavarria contacted ECPD Chief, Frank Alcala, at home and related the information received from the informant. Chief Alcala referred Lt. Chavarria to Thomas Ryan, the ECPD's legal counsel who could better advise Lt. Chavarria concerning the legality of Mr. Luellen's actions. In a series of conversations, Ryan told Lt. Chavarria that he believed that the police had enough information to search Mr. Luellen's vehicle based on the mobile conveyance exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment. However, in order to escape inevitable criticism, Ryan also advised Lt. Chavarria to determine whether the city had a policy regarding its vehicles and whether there was another key for the city vehicle in question. While Lt. Chavarria was tracking down this information on the city's policy, he left two other officers, Louis Arcuri and William Jansky, at Mr. Luellen's home to conduct surveillance.
Lt. Chavarria spoke to Howard Vanselow, the assistant chief in charge of maintenance for the ECFD, who also was the acting chief while ECFD Chief, James Dawson, was out of town. Asst. Chief Vanselow told Lt. Chavarria that he (Vanselow) could get a key to the vehicle. Asst. Chief Vanselow later met Lt. Chavarria with the key at Mr. Luellen's residence.1
Before Lt. Chavarria searched the trunk, he knocked on Mr. Luellen's door, but there was no response. Asst. Chief Vanselow then knocked as well; Mr. Luellen eventually opened his second-floor window. When Asst. Chief Vanselow informed Mr. Luellen that the trunk of the vehicle was going to be opened, Mr. Luellen responded that he was going to get in touch with his lawyer.2
Asst. Chief Vanselow then opened the trunk at Lt. Chavarria's request. Inside the trunk was a bag labeled "Lake County Voters Registration Board," which contained both sealed and unsealed absentee ballots. Lt. Chavarria then informed Mr. Luellen that they were confiscating the bag.
At the station, the contents of the bag were inventoried, and the inventory revealed several completed absentee ballots and several applications for absentee ballots. On the morning of April 19, 1999, the evidence was turned over to the Lake County Sheriff's Department so that it could conduct a more thorough criminal investigation.
Based on his actions of April 18, 1999, Mr. Luellen was placed on administrative leave from the Fire Department beginning on April 21, 1999. Specifically, on that date, Chief Dawson informed Mr. Luellen accordingly:
Please be advised that I have been informed by Fire Department Attorney Michael W. Bosch that on April 20, 1999, the Lake County Sheriff presented evidence of election law violations to the Lake County Combined County Election Board and Board of Registration. The County Sheriff and his legal advisor advised the Board that they believed the facts surrounding items confiscated from your fire department vehicle constituted evidence of the commission of a felony. The Election Board has referred this evidence to both the Lake County Prosecutor and the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana for further investigation.
While you have not been convicted in any court yet, this conduct that the sheriff considers a felony is certainly conduct unbecoming an officer. Accordingly, by the power invested in me as the Chief of this Department, you are hereby suspended from duty. Pursuant to the former [Ind.Code] 19-1-37,5-7, I shall present this suspension to the Board of Public Safety for confirmation on Thursday, April 22, 1999 at 11:00 a.m. in the Board's hearing room. If the Safety Board confirms your suspension, you will have ten (10) days to file with the East Chicago Fire Civil Service Commission a written demand for an investigation, whereupon the Commission shall conduct an investigation.
Pursuant to [Ind.Code] 36-8-3-4, the Safety Board may place you on administrative leave until the disposition of criminal charges. Your administrative leave may be with or without pay as determined by the board but, I do intend to recommend you be suspended with pay.
In another memo issued on that day, Chief Dawson also informed Mr. Luellen that Id., Ex.5.
Mr. Luellen did not attend the confirmation hearing on Thursday, April 22, 1999, nor did he take any other action to challenge his suspension. He remained on paid administrative leave until January 15, 2001. During this time, he received his base pay. However, Mr. Luellen did not receive either overtime pay or "on-call pay"—an additional yearly sum paid to fire inspectors for being available to respond when requested by an assistant chief. Luellen Dep. at 53. No criminal charges were ever filed against Mr. Luellen.
Mr. Luellen brought this action against the City of East Chicago, its Mayor—Robert Pastrick, Mayor Pastrick's son—Kevin Pastrick,3 Chief Dawson and Chief Alcala for alleged violations of his rights under the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. By way of relief, Mr. Luellen sought "a declaratory judgment determining that the challenged actions of the defendants violate [his] rights," reinstatement, backpay and damages. R.1 at 6.
The defendants moved for summary judgment, which the district court granted. With respect to Mr. Luellen's Fourth Amendment claim, the district court held that the moving vehicle exception to the warrant requirement applied. The court explained that "[u]nder this exception, police officers may search a vehicle without a warrant if they have probable cause to believe it contains contraband or evidence of crime." R.115 at 12. Furthermore, the court continued, "[p]robable cause to search a vehicle under the automobile exception can come from information obtained by a confidential informant." See id. at 13 (). The court determined that the detailed information provided by the CI, combined with Lt. Chavarria's personal knowledge of the CI's reliability, provided probable cause for a search of the vehicle.
The district court further held that, even if there was not probable cause to search the vehicle, the involvement of Chief Dawson and Chief Alcala was not sufficient so as to subject them to liability under § 1983. According to the court, Lt. Chavarria testified that he would have opened the trunk even absent Chief Dawson's permission; consequently Chief Dawson's permission was not a factor in the alleged Fourth Amendment violation. As well, the district court found that Chief Alcala's referral of Lt. Chavarria to Ryan for advice also was not sufficient personal involvement to impute § 1983 liability.
The court then turned to Mr. Luellen's suspension. The court first rejected Mr. Luellen's claim that he was suspended as a result of his support for Stiglich. Applying the analysis of Mount Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 97 S.Ct. 568, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977), the court found that the fact that Chief Dawson supported Stiglich's opponent, Mayor Pastrick, was not evidence that Mr. Luellen's support of Stiglich was a motivating factor in his suspension.
The court also rejected Mr. Luellen's claim that Chief Dawson had violated his due process rights when Chief Dawson suspended him with pay without a hearing. Although the court acknowledged a due process right to a hearing prior to termination of employment, the court held that the...
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